College football Week 2 watchability rankings: Texas-Michigan is for the casuals

No disrespect to those tuning into No. 3 Texas’ trip to No. 10 Michigan at noon on Saturday. That should be a fun game between two rowdy fan bases that ultimately ends in a decisive Longhorns win.

Texas is simply the better team across the board — especially while the Wolverines work out their quarterback issues.

There just happen to be quite a few more exciting matchups this weekend despite what the rankings say. We’re talking No. 17 Kansas State at Tulane, No. 23 Georgia Tech at Syracuse and Arkansas at No. 16 Oklahoma State.

And none of those matchups even clocked in on this week’s watchability rankings.

Here’s your guide to Week 2.

All odds via BetMGM

Best Game of the Week: Nebraska vs. Colorado

Saturday: 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock

What makes this game fascinating isn’t just that these long-time rivals are playing in Lincoln for the first time since 2018, or that Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are already playing like Heisman Trophy contenders.

Tune into this one to see Dylan Raiola — the Nebraska freshman quarterback who was previously committed to play at Georgia and Ohio State before following his NFL-alum father’s footsteps and joining the Huskers.

Aside from his NFL lineage, having Matthew Stafford serve as his godfather and already earning praise from Patrick Mahomes, Raiola is just plain GOOD. He might even be great, soon.

Saturday figures to be his unofficial coming out party. He gets a nationally televised game on NBC against a Colorado team that keeps drawing massive audience ratings. Those viewers may be tuning in because it’s Colorado, but expect everyone to come away talking about Raiola — if he continues looking like the savior QB Nebraska has been searching for since Eric Crouch.

Considering Colorado’s defense looked as porous in Week 1 as it was last year when it allowed the fifth-most yards per game in FBS. Raiola should have many opportunities to show off his arm.

Game that might have an impact on the College Football Playoff: No. 7 Oregon – Boise State

Saturday, 10:00 p.m. ET on Peacock

I know we all can’t wait to see what happens when a true Heisman contender takes the field in Eugene.

Obviously, we’re talking about Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, who ran for 267 yards and six touchdowns in the Broncos’ opener against Georgia Southern — and who Oregon coach Dan Lanning just called “the best running back I’ve seen since I’ve since I’ve been here” as well as a surefire future NFLer.

The Ducks have a lot to clean up after a closer-than-expected victory over Idaho last week and if not, things get a little dicey in the playoff race. First, because Oregon was figured by many to win the Big Ten this year (despite a brutal travel schedule). Second, because many of those same prognosticators believe Boise State will emerge as the Group of Five representative in the College Football Playoffs.

In order to get there, they need to be the highest-ranked G5 conference champion. One way to bolster their resume? A narrow loss or outright victory in a true road game against a preseason Big Ten darling.

This game has some serious stakes, y’all.

Weird Weeknight Game of the Week: Duke – Northwestern

Friday, 9 p.m. ET, on FS1

The first night game at Northwestern’s iconic, but temporary Martin Stadium is going to be a doozy. Not simply because Duke and Northwestern are pretty evenly matched and looking to assert themselves as spoilers in their respective conferences, but because as any Chicagoan will tell you (excitedly and repeatedly), the wind off Lake Michigan is no joke. At all.

There’s also just no way to prepare for it.

Field goals won’t come easy. Deep passes could be trouble. Do yourself a favor and take the under.

Awesome Group of Five matchup worth watching: Idaho at Wyoming

Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET on TruTV/Max

Speaking of unconventional home-field advantages, let’s jump over to Laramie, where a Big Sky-Mountain West matchups pits the Cowboys and Vandals in a fascinating one.

Bizarre things happen in Wyoming home games and we really, truly don’t have time to go over all of them, so just trust us here. The Cowboys’ home-opener follows a drubbing at Arizona State while the Vandals have to be feeling a little confident after giving Oregon a serious scare.

Forget about the fact both teams are 0-1. This is going to be fun, and more importantly, very weird.

Sickos Guilty Pleasure Game of the Week: UTSA – Texas State

Saturday, 4 p.m. ET on ESPNU

It doesn’t get sicker than flipping over from Iowa-Iowa State to an AAC-Sun Belt matchup in the middle of a Saturday slate.

Less than 60 miles of I-35 separate UTSA and Texas State, and while the Roadrunners have won all five contests in this rivalry, each of the last three matchups have been one-possession games. Both head coaches (UTSA’s Jeff Traylor and TSU’s G.J. Kline) are likely candidates to get poached by bigger schools this offseason after each led their teams to bowl wins last year, and both teams enter the matchup at 1-0.

Be a Sicko. Watch this.

Also watch…

• Arkansas at No. 16 Oklahoma State: Noon ET on ABC
• No. 23 Georgia Tech at Syracuse: Noon ET on ACC Network
• No. 17 Kansas State at Tulane: Noon ET on ESPN
• Iowa State at No. 21 Iowa: 3:30 p.m. on CBS
• App State at No. 25 Clemson: 8 p.m. ET on ACC Network